If you want to make your blog more entertaining for your readers, then there are a few techniques you can use. And it doesn’t matter how dry or boring you think your industry is – some of the most entertaining blogs have come out of very mundane topics. It’s how you approach the topic and understand your reader that really matters.
Let’s take a look at some of the simple ways you can add a bit of pizzazz to your blogs.
Use an analogy
Analogies are brilliant. They can help you explain complex theories in a way that people will understand. And they can help you make a dry subject a lot less boring.
The key to analogies is to make them relatable to your audience. I once sat through a whole presentation that compared the subject to a car engine. I bet it made loads of sense to some of the audience but it was completely lost on me – someone who doesn’t own a car.
There’s a fine balance between what you find interesting and what is relatable to your readers. At the same time, picking an analogy that someone else won’t understand will help you whittle out those who aren’t in your niche.
So maybe the car analogy wasn’t so bad, I just wasn’t the target audience.
The flip side to this is to avoid analogies that are hideously overdone. Like climbing Everest to show how you can overcome a challenge or how running a marathon is like running a business. We’ve heard them all before and while it gets the message across, it’s a bit dull.
Instead, think beyond the obvious. Looking at the sports you do and the hobbies you have is a great start. Even better is knowing what kind of things your customer does.
I know a lot of my customers do yoga or run. So I can relate ideas around these two areas. Or that some of the people I work with are vegan and so cake is usually a good spot. For one client, I turn complex theories into analogies about animals. We all understand and recognise animals.
It also gives you a chance to add colour and get creative with your blog. The more interesting the analogy, the better you can make the blog.
Tell a story
Storytelling is another simple technique to make your blog more entertaining. You’ve got a couple of choices here: you can tell personal stories which help people get to know you better, or you can talk about clients.
If you’re going to talk about clients, make sure you get their permission first or hide the details about who they are.
Stories can help illustrate the points you want to make and also give a little insight into how you can help the reader. This also turns a dry subject into something more relatable.
When I was teaching this as part of my blogging course, I used the example of mortgage brokers because I can’t think of anything more dull than talking about mortgages. All of the class managed to turn a very dry subject into something more entertaining by telling a story.
And that’s the thing about these boring industries, they tend to be the ones that we need in our lives no matter what. Their services impact our lives and so there is ample opportunity to tell stories that are relatable.
But, you don’t need a dry subject to write a dry blog. You can have exciting industries and still manage to read a very dull blog on the subject. Sprinkle in a story throughout and you’ve just added some colour throughout.
Use humour to make your blog more entertaining
Seeing the funny side of your blog subject will definitely make it more entertaining. Writing comedy takes skill and can be difficult, so start out by adding in a few puns.
Don’t be afraid to stick in a joke that you know your reader understands. Although try avoid naff jokes.
Comedy is one of the best ways to make a blog more entertaining. Everyone loves a laugh. And you can play around with puerile humour. Although it might be worth getting someone to check your blog so that you can make sure the joke lands.
While you might have a dry sense of humour in real life, this can be much harder to convey on a blog and takes real skill. So it’s probably best to avoid that for now
What if you don’t already have humour in your content?
You’ll want your blog to feel part of your brand, so unless you’re going sprinkle humour across every other part of your content suite (not a bad idea), use humour in the right context to save you have one odd-looking blog alongside all the other more serious ones. Perhaps try one of the other tips first?
Bring in more of your language and tone of voice
Often blogs are dry and boring because you write all the information down and forget to put it in your brand tone of voice. You risk sounding like Father Fitzgerald (the priest with the most boring voice) in Father Ted.
Instead, if you want to make your blog more entertaining, go back over the language and make sure you’ve added in all the flourishes that makes it truly you.
This might be a particular way of saying something or looking at the angle you take on a subject. Often these small changes can make a big difference to adding flair into your blog.
Turn the subject on its head
If you’re writing about something that you know has a lot of other very similar content online then see if you can turn it on its head. For example, instead of writing a blog about the reasons to work or buy from you, write about why someone shouldn’t buy from you.
Or maybe you’re talking your reader through how to do something, instead explain what happens if they do it another way. And if you’ve got examples of when it’s gone wrong, put them in.
Turning the subject on its head can often make your blog stand out against the sea of similarities online.
Say something that no one else is saying
When I was researching this blog, I looked at what others were saying about how to make a blog more entertaining. Most of them said very much the same thing like:
- Don’t have a wall of text
- Add a video
- Use pictures
And while these are all good things to do with your blog, it doesn’t exactly tell you how to be more entertaining. A nicely broken-up piece of copy can still be boring, even if it’s visually more pleasing. Likewise, a video can be properly dull if the script isn’t engaging.
Seeing what else is out there and understanding how you can give a different approach can often be the stand-out thing that makes your blog simply brilliant.
And if you’re saying what no one else is saying, your audience is more likely to notice.
Of course, the best way to make a blog more entertaining is to keep writing blogs and keep practising. There really is no subject too boring to write about, you simply need to find the right angle to approach it. And that can be the hardest part of getting started with your blog.